Lock, Stock and Two Smokin' Barrels
by RedCharlie
Summary: Ranger comes home to find stephanie with a new man, will ranger be able to win her back or is Liam "the one". Murder, mystery and smut.
1. Batman Returns

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

I thought of this story while watching Lock, Stock so I thought it'd be an appropriate name. It's kind of a rewrite of Face Down but I renamed it and rewrote it. Not making any money and nobody belongs to me.

Word of warning I tend to use the F word a lot, too many English mob movies.

Chapter one: Batman Returns

Steph:

I looked over at the man lying next to me and smiled, my life was almost perfect, bounty hunting was going well and I had a little bit of money saved up, I'd joined a gym and gotten fit plus I had a great boyfriend.

Ranger had left about four months ago to go "in the wind" and Joe had joined him a month later for a "secret undercover op". I had heard some rumours that they were working together somewhere but I didn't really care anymore. It had taken 15 tubs of Ben & Jerry's and a convention with Lula, Mary Lou and Connie to get me to take control of my life and the men in my life. This is where Liam came in; I met him when one of his employees went FTA. We'd been dating two months and I had yet to find anything wrong with him. He was 35, owned an accounting firm, strong, handsome, loved me the way I was and didn't disappear for months at a time without notice.

"How am I supposed to sleep when you're staring at me?" He said, his eyes still closed.

"How am I supposed to sleep with someone as hot as you in my bed?"

"Hmmm, I love it when you stroke my ego." He rolled over and pinned me underneath him.

"Stop talking and maybe I'll stroke something else."

*

Four hours later and I was pulling up to the bonds office.

"Where the hell have you been?" Vinnie poked his head out his door when I walked in. "I pay you to be out there catching criminals not playing nookie with your new boyfriend. I'm losing money here."

I dropped the doughnuts on Connie's desk and turned to Vinnie. "You stop spending your money on buying and traumatizing innocent animals and I'll stop losing it."

"Humph" Vinnie went back into his office with a slam of his door.

"Hey skinny white girl." Lula was buffing her nails on the couch wearing a bright red spandex body suit. Both she and Connie were being unusually quiet.

"Hey skinny white girl." I said looking at her. "I come in unusually late, with the "I've-just-been-fucked-real-good" look on my face and all you can say is "hey, skinny white girl."

I looked at Connie; she was overly involved in her nails, looking back at Lula with my hands on my hips. "Okay. What' going on?"

"Hey Babe"

Oh Fuck!

I turned to see that Ranger had walked through the door, I hadn't seen from him in months and all I wanted to do now was pull him to the floor and have my way with him. Stupid Hungarian hormones. I'm supposed to be angry, he left me and didn't even say goodbye.

"I smell something burning Babe." I looked up to his face, the Stupid Fuck found me amusing.

I pulled him into a bear hug. "God Ranger, it's been months. I thought you weren't coming back. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to thank you." I pulled back.

"Thank me for what?" Batman looked at tad confused.

"For leaving, if you hadn't left, I never would have meet Liam. My new boyfriend."

Ranger looked like he'd been slapped. HA, take that Batman, I grabbed my files on Connie's desk and made my escape before the shock wore off.

Ranger:

I was speechless; I looked over at Connie and Lula. They were both sporting a look that I assumed would be similar to mine a few seconds ago. I knew Steph would be angry at me for leaving but I never thought about her finding a new guy.

"Who. The. Fuck. Is. Liam." I said trying to control my anger.

"An accountant." Lula said in a matter of fact voice.

"An accountant." I repeated.

"Yes. Steph took a high bond skip, that would have been yours, and when Steph went to his workplace she met Liam. The owner." Connie explained.

Neither Connie nor Lula were looking at me and I had a feeling that I was getting the cold shoulder from them.

"I wasn't like you were here to take the skip." Lula added. "Or look after White Girl, so now she has a new boy."

"The Fuck she does." I stormed out of the office, I was trying to keep in control but it was fading fast. I wanted to kill someone, preferably _Liam_. Who the fuck did he think he was moving in on my Babe and why the fuck didn't my men do anything to stop it. I asked them to look out for her while I was away, and they knew she was my woman so why did they let _Liam_ get anywhere near her.

By the time I'd gotten to Rangeman I'd worked myself up to breaking point.

"Ranger, your back." Lester said when I walked into the control room.

All the response he got was a punch in the face.

"Fuck," Lester swore as blood started pouring out of his nose. "Guess you found out about Liam."

"Yeah, you want to explain that to me, I leave for four months and expect my men to look after my woman, but I get back to find her smitten with an accountant."

"Calm down Ranger." Tank entered the Control room with Bobby who went straight to Lester. "It's not like you two were in any sort of a relationship before you left. Steph's aloud to be with someone who loves her."

Taking deep breaths I slowly started to calm down. I looked around the control room, everyone was watching us. "I don't pay you to stand around." I said back to my deadly calm voice.

A chorus of "Yes, Sir" and "Sorry Boss" was heard as they all scattered away.

Steph:

By 4 o'clock, I'd caught 3 skips then headed back to my apartment, Liam and I had a date tonight and I wanted to look my best. We were going to a restaurant called Le Poisson Rouge, which was a very nice place that was defiantly out of the average Joe's price range.

When I opened by apartment door the phone was ringing.

"Hello."

"Hey Beautiful" Lester responded, I'd become really close with all the guys from Rangeman and constantly went out with them after a hard day's work.

"What's up Les? The boss riding you hard now his back?"

"You have no idea. Anyway, we're all going out tonight and were wondering if you wanted to join? Maybe if you get me drunk enough I might just take advantage of you."

"Ha, if you get drunk enough. I wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole Les; I don't know where you've been." I joked and was rewarded with a rich, deep laugh. "Anyway, I can't go. Liam and I have a date tonight."

"Where?"

"Le Poisson Rouge"

"Very nice, try the Coq au Vin. It's delicious."

"How many lucky girls have you taking there?" It was common knowledge that Lester was a player, but I knew he was a good guy about it; he always made sure the girls new the deal before hand and had a good time.

"Only the one's I really want to impress."

Laughing, I said goodbye and started getting ready for my date. Lula and I had gone shopping yesterday to find the perfect dress, it was black silk, which stop just on my knees, and had no straps on the top. It was simple yet elegant, well hopefully that's what it looked like. I had a pair of black high heels to go with it, and a matching black clutch. I had been spending way too much time around the Merry Men.

I primped and premed for two hours, getting my hair to fall over my shoulders in soft curls, and putting on some light, natural makeup. At 6 o'clock, there was a knock on my door.

"Come in, I'll just be a sec." I yelled to Liam as I ran around my room getting things for my clutch.

"So what do you think?" I let against the lounge room door in what I tried to be a sexy position only to realise it wasn't Liam.

"Babe, you look beautiful." His eyes turned deep chocolate as he took a step towards me.

I held out my hand in a stop signal. "Ranger what are you doing here?"

"I have a distraction job I need you for. But you're going out with him." His eyes seemed to get harder as he said this.

"Yes, Liam and I are going on a date, he should be here soon, I'm sorry but maybe if you reschedule it for tomorrow, I'll be able to help you." I may be angry at Ranger but I'd been helping the boys out wherever I could while he'd been away and that wasn't going to change now he was back.

"I can't reschedule for tomorrow, he'll be out of town by then. "

A knock on the door interrupted us, when Ranger heard the locks turn he said. "Does he always brake into your apartment?"

"No, he has a key."

"Hey Baby." Liam walked into the lounge room and locked his eyes on Ranger. "Everything okay?"

"Everything's fine." Ranger relied before I could. His voice was stone cold and I knew he was trying to intimidate Liam.

"Ranger's an old friend who just got back into town and wanted to catch up, but it will have to wait till another time." I was trying to defuse the situation before Ranger decided to take his gun out and shoot Liam.

"Babe, I need you at nine, will you be finished dinner by then?" Ranger still wasn't looking at me, but instead sending what looked a slight smirk Liam's way.

I huffed, part of me really wanted to tell Ranger to stuff it, but there was a bigger part of me that knew I could never say no to Ranger, he needed my help and god help me I was going to help him.

"Sure Ranger, will this outfit be okay for the distraction job?"

Finally Ranger turned his eyes back to me, they were back to being liquid sex. "It's perfect Babe. The Apple Bar, 9 o'clock." And with that he left.

"What was that all about?" Liam asked.

"Ranger is an old friend and my sometimes boss; he just needs some help tonight on a job. I'm sorry but Ranger's done so much for me in the past, I owe him this."

I waited for Liam to blow up about it but he just took in a deep breath and looked back up at me. "Okay, well we've got until 9, let's forget about him and have a good time."

Good god of tastykakes I think I'm falling in love.

*

It was desert time before Ranger got brought up again.

"So, Ranger is the one who owns Rangeman?" Liam asked.

"I thought you wanted to forget about him?"

"So sue me, I'm curious." A man after my own heart and he was eating desert.

"Yes, he's kind of my mentor in the bounty hunting business."

"And a distraction job is what?"

I breathed out a sigh, I had done a few distraction jobs while Liam and I had been dating but I never really explained what they involved, and I wasn't too sure about how he'd take it.

"It effectively what it's named, a distraction. I go in all dressed up and distracted an FTA in a bar then lead him unsuspectingly to the arms of the Rangeman crew." He faced didn't show whether he was mad or not so I continued. "It normally the safest and easiest way to get the FTA. I wear a wire and there are about 3 of the Merry Men inside the bar and another two outside."

"Wow, seems all very secret sleuth spy kind of work."

I laughed out loud. "I don't think anyone has referred to my work as secret sleuth spy kind of work. Normally I just bungle along and try to do as least damage to me and others as possible."

Liam reached over and grabbed my hand, kissing it he said. "You're beautiful Steph, I bet the FTA's would follow you any where even if it meant back to jail."

This time I leaned over and kissed him, "You flatter me."

"Just telling the truth. Do you think that Ranger would let me watch you on a distraction job?"

Absolutely no way in hell. "You wouldn't be allowed to be in the bar, but he might let you listen into the wire, if you stayed in the car."

Looking at his watch, Liam said. "Well we better get going now, it'll take about half an hour to get to The Apple Bar and it's already 8:20"

We paid the bill and left, I had a bad feeling about letting Liam be there but I wanted him to see me work, Joe had never been interested in what I did for Ranger he just got angry about it.


	2. The Edge of Reason

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

I always liked Joe in the books, so I'm going to make this a Joe friendly story. He'll get his own HEA, just not with Steph.

Chapter Two: The Edge of Reason

Ranger:

It was ten to nine when Steph turned up Liam in tow; I was really starting to hate this guy.

"Babe." I asked in question, when Liam got out of his car. No way was he staying for this; I planned on using this distraction job to get back in my Babe's good books.

"Hey Ranger. I didn't introduce you two formally before. Ranger, Liam. Liam, Ranger."

Liam put his hand out to shake and after a second I returned it, trying hard not to crush his hand like I wanted.

"Nice to meet you" He said.

"Like wise" Asshole.

"Liam was wondering if he could stay for the distraction job."

"No"

Steph grabbed my arm and pulled me, I let her lead me a few meters away. She looked up at me with her big blue eyes. "He won't go inside just let him listen to the wire."

"Babe, it's too dangerous. If lover boy over there gets angry while listening to the wire, I can't be responsible for him while I'm trying to look after you."

"Please, Ranger. He's not going to get angry. Please."

Fuck me, I couldn't ever say no to Steph. "Okay Babe."

"Thank you Ranger" She smiled at me and I felt my heart melt. Maybe this would give me time to have a heart to heart with Liam, make sure he understands that this thing he has going with my Babe has to end and fast.

We made our way back over to lover boy, where my men had gathered as well.

"You can sit in the SUV with me, but if I think you're getting out of hand or can't control your anger, you're gone." I said.

"That's fair."

With a nod I turned to my men. "Cal, Hal and Ram you're on the inside. Blinkie and Brett, wait by the door for the skip." With that my men left and I turned back to Steph. "You need to get wired." I badly wanted to do it myself, but knew there was no way in hell Steph would let me in front of Liam.

Five minute later Steph was wired and in the bar and Liam and me were sitting in my SUV.

"So, Steph seems to think very highly of you." Liam said.

I nodded in agreement

"I'm not stupid." Could've fooled me. "I know that Steph and you had something going before you left. Would you like to explain what?"

"What Steph and I had or do have is none of your business, all you need to worry about is the fact that I want Steph and what I want, I get." I knew I was being an arrogant basted and that Steph would probably slap me if she heard what I was saying but I didn't care. Liam was smart enough to know that he wouldn't be able to say anything bad about me to Steph without getting her angry.

"You may be able to scare you men and everyone else into doing what you want, but not me. Steph and I are together and I don't plan on letting her go, ever. She's mine not yours."

I let a small feral smile play on my face. "Trust me; Steph will never be fully yours not since I've come back. I don't share well so I suggest for the sake of your safety, that you leave Steph alone from now on."

"Are you threatening me? Not a smart idea, your just an over paid thug, I'm a respected accountant. Who do you think the cops are going to believe?"

For the first time I turn to look at him properly; "You obviously have misread me, I don't give a fuck what the cops think." I turned back to look out the window. "And by the way I don't make threats, I make promises."

That ended the discussion for the rest of the distraction job, which was good, too much longer and I would have killed the guy.

Ten minutes later Steph had gotten the FTA out of the bar and he'd been loaded up into Blinkie's SUV for him and Brett to take to the station.

"Babe" I called out as she was about to get into Liam's car. Stopping she turned and walked back over to me.

"Ranger"

"Thanks for the help tonight, proud of you." I saw her eyes light up as I said this, I knew she never got any real praise from anyone so I made sure she got a lot from me.

"Thanks Ranger, for letting Liam listen in as well."

"No worries Babe." We stood in silence for a second, just looking at each other. "Come to lunch with me tomorrow Babe."

"Ranger-"

I could hear she was about to decline so I interrupted. "I haven't seen you in months Babe, come to lunch so I can apologize and catch up on your life."

As a rule I didn't like to apologize but this was my Babe we were talking about and wherever she was concerned, rules could be broken.

"Okay, where?"

"7th floor okay Babe? I'll get Ella to make you a pineapple upside down cake."

"Sure" she smiled at the thought of Ella; I knew she loved Ella's cooking just as much as Ella loved cooking for Steph. If it was up to Ella, Steph and I would be married with a couple of kids by now. Thinking about it, it was what I wanted too.

Leaning down I placed a kiss on her forehead. "I really did miss you Babe."

Steph leaned into me a little, "I missed you too Ranger."

*

Steph:

The next morning I woke up alone, a note pined to where Liam was originally sleeping.

_Had a problem at the office, had to go in, sorry. I'll make it up to you tonight, dinner at my house._

_Love Liam xox_

I smiled, as I rolled out of bed. I was yet to find anything wrong with him. Sure he wasn't ever going to be as sexy or as handsome as Ranger but I don't think anyone could. Liam was nice, happy, handsome, smart, funny, didn't mind my job, didn't leave the country unexpectedly and wanted a real relationship with me.

I was eating a pop tart when the phone rang.

"Yello"

"Babe"

"Ranger, what can I do for you?" after last night I had forgiven Ranger for leaving, it wasn't like we were a couple when he left. I'd gotten over my anger and now was mainly just glad to have my best friend back.

"Just calling to talk."

"Is the apocalypse coming, Ranger's calling for a gossip." I laughed and felt him smile over the phone.

"I don't gossip."

"Of course you don't. That would be unmanly."

"Babe"

Two could play that game. "Ranger" I said trying to imitate his deep voice.

I heard a quiet chuckle over the phone. "Are you laughing at me Ranger?" Trying to sound stern.

"Never Babe"

"I'm sure"

"Ella said lunch will be served at 12, is that okay Babe?"

I moaned at the thought of Ella's cooking, she was a goddess, I was really hoping she would adopt me one day. "That's fine. I have some skips to catch then I'll head over."

"You need any help babe?"

"Nope, I've been working out, no more muffin top on me." I was really proud of what I'd achieved in the four months, I didn't have a six pack or anything but my stomach was flat for once and I could eat doughnuts now without worrying.

"I notice Babe, I'm proud of what you've done."

"Thanks Ranger, I've found that running isn't that bad if you don't have to do it at five in the morning. Although I still can't work out why you eat all that healthy crap, it still tastes disgusting."

Ranger laughed again, this time louder. "I have a meeting now, but I'll see you at 12. Call me if you need anything. Bye Babe." And he hung up.

Well fuck me, the apocalypse is coming.

I grabbed my keys and headed over to the bonds office.

"Hello." I said, plopping down on the couch next to Lula.

"Well someone's cheery today." Connie looked up from painting her nails.

"Yeah, what's goin' on White Girl, we figured Ranger had either killed you or had you tied to his bed. Why you so happy?" Lula was looking at me in puzzlement so I decided to play with her a little.

"You saying you wouldn't be happy to be tied to Ranger's bed all night long."

I watched as both Lula and Connie turned into fish. "It was a joke; I'm just having a good day is all."

"Humph, don't get me all excited like that." Lula said.

"So you haven't done anything with Ranger since he's been back?" Connie asked.

"Nope, I did a distraction job last night for him, and Liam watched me work. Ranger and I are just friends, that's all. I'm with Liam."

"Good." Connie stated. "Liam's a nice guy, Ranger just played around with you too much."

"Watch you mean, Ranger loves White Girl here. She's he's woman. Steph don't need no accountant."

Lula and Connie then proceeded to get into a fight about who was better for me Liam or Ranger. I still loved Ranger, I knew that but Liam had been so good to me since Ranger was gone. And anyway all Ranger wanted out of me was a romp in the hay, not a relationship. It was better that we were just friends. Yes, that was best. I just hoped stupid Stephanie wouldn't get too out of hand when I was at lunch with Ranger today, in his apartment, alone. Fuck, I'm screwed.

"Calm down you two. Ranger and I are just friends. Liam is my boyfriend and that's the way it's going to stay. So stop fighting."

"Humph" Lula went back to reading her magazine and Connie to her nails.

"Are there any skips?"

"Just one, John Bridges, caught carrying concealed. The gun was illegal too; apparently it's from a batch of army guns that went missing about a year ago. The cops still haven't found the guys who did it."

I picked up the file and left the bonds office. Bridges lived just outside the Burg in a rundown house. I sat in my car outside of it studying the file, it was a low bond because of the charge but he was a very wanted man. The cops hadn't gotten out of him where he'd gotten the gun yet. I looked over at the house, some lights were on but it didn't look like any one was home.

"Only one way to find out" I said to myself, climbing out of the car, I walked up to his front door and knock.

"Hello, anyone home?" I thought it best not to call out that I was a bounty hunter, I found that they tended to run when I did that.

I turned the handle and found that the door was open; I pulled my stun gun out before I went it. Safety first, although my gun might have been safer, that was tucked away at home in my cookie jar.

"Hello." I headed down the hall, stopping when I saw a piece of paper by the telephone. _Liam Fitzpatrick 97543151. _What the? I didn't recognize the number; I had Liam's work, home, mobile and office number. I put the piece of paper in my pocket and continued my journey through the house. I further in I got the more it started to smell and when I got the kitchen I realized why. John Bridges was laying face down in his cereal, the back of his head blown off. I calmly walked back out of the house and threw up. Then dialed 911.

I sank to the steps and waited, the police came and did their thing.

"I've been back for five minutes and already they're calling me cause you've found another body." I looked up at Joe, giving him a death glare that didn't work. "How you been, Cupcake?"

"I was better when you weren't in town."

"So I've heard." Joe sat down next to me and put his arm around my shoulders. "I heard you've found yourself a new boyfriend. And an accountant at that."

"What's it too you?" I knew that Joe and I would have to have a talk when he got back I was hoping that I could put it off for as long as possible.

"Just want you to be happy cupcake, while I was away I realized that maybe me and you aren't meant to be together, but I'll always love you."

I smiled up at him and lent into his embrace. "I'll always love you to Joe. I'm glad you're not mad." I had really hoped that Joe and I could still be friends, he would always be my first love.

"I'm not mad, but I heard from Mooch, who heard from Carl, who heard from Ram that Ranger is one very angry man."

"He has nothing to be angry over, we were never dating." I huffed.

"Doesn't mean you weren't his woman."

Arrr. "I. Am. Not. Ranger's. Woman. He left four months ago, he can't be angry, he doesn't want a relationship."

Two hours later I'd finished my catch up with Joe and all the police questions and I was on my way to Rangeman. I still had the piece of paper in my pocket, I hadn't told the police or Joe about it. I was being paranoid there's nothing bad going on, even criminals need accountants. Anyway it could not have even been my Liam, it was a very common name, maybe not around here but still Liam Fitzpatrick was very common. Yes. Liam had nothing to do with John Bridges, he was my loving, nice boyfriend that wasn't involved in any illegal activity and I liked him very much.

Now all I had to do was survive lunch with the Cuban Sex God. I'd be fine, I could control my hormones, and I wasn't going to jump him. Hopefully.


	3. The Usual Suspects

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Chapter Three: The Usual Suspects

Steph:

I got to Rangeman with 5 minutes to spare. Knocking on Ranger's apartment door, I quickly did a check, I still looked okay. Nothing in the hair, no weird substance on me. I was all good.

"Hey Babe" Ranger held the door open as I entered.

"Hey yourself"

"Ella should be up in a second with lunch."

We headed to the lounge room and sat down, I made sure to sit in one of the chairs just eliminate the temptation. The look Ranger sent me, made it clear he knew what I was doing, but he didn't voice it, choosing to sit on the couch.

"How are you Babe? I heard about your skip."

Yeah, the skip that had my boyfriends name and number. "Fine, just another day at the office" I tried to put on a brave face but I could never get over seeing a dead body.

"I'm sorry babe. It never gets easier."

"Let's not dwell on it. How have you been?" I said changing the subject.

"Good, it's good to be home after four months." Ranger's eyes turned serious, "I am sorry for leaving you Babe, but it wasn't something I could control."

I smiled at him, I knew it was hard for Ranger to apologize, it didn't come naturally to him. "It's fine, I hope everything went well."

Ranger let out a small chuckle and leant back against the couch. "Babe, it was FUBAR from the start."

"Oh, if you want to talk about it, I'll listen. I know that there are some things you can't talk about but if you want I'm here." I got up and moved to the couch beside Ranger.

"Thanks Babe." He turned his head and smiled at me, melting my heart. "We got word that a horde of guns and weapons from Ireland were supposed to be coming in to the US but we had not Intel on who, when or where. We'd worked for months even before I left and we only just managed to find out when they were supposed to be coming, and that they were coming by boat to the east coast. We set up a huge bust that went FUBAR and a few of the good men I was working with got shot and died."

"I'm so sorry Ranger, but at least you stopped the weapons from coming in."

He shook his head. "We didn't even manage that, we have no idea where the weapons went, they just disappeared."

Ranger looked so vulnerable sitting there, I knew that he rarely failed any of his missions and the fact that a few men died and that they didn't get the weapons would be eating him up inside. I wrapped my arms around him and nuzzled my head under his chin, offering him comfort. He's arms wrapped around me and we sat there in silence for a few minute before we were interrupted by a knock on the door. Ella.

I got up and let her in.

"Hello dear, I haven't seen you in a while." Ella came in pushing a try that smelled delicious.

"It's good to see you too. It smells great Ella."

"I made you a pineapple upside down cake for desert, and steak and vegetables for lunch."

My mouth was watering as Ella set it all out on the dining room table. Ranger had joined us and took his seat at the head of the table. I chose to sit to his left. Lunch was as amazing as ever and the upside down pineapple cake was better than my mum's, if possible.

"You going to be okay for the rest of the day Babe?" Ranger asked as we cleared the table.

"Yup, I've just got to head over to the bonds office to get my check. John was my last FTA."

"Would you do me a favor?"

"Anything"

"I have a new guy doing searches, and he's too slow. Do you think you could stay for a few hours and do some of the more important ones?"

"Sure"

"I'm going to be in a meeting all afternoon but you can use my office. Ask whoever's in the control room to get you a laptop to use."

*

Tank and Bobby were on the monitors when I got into the control room.

"Hey Bombshell" They said in unison, eyes never leaving the monitors

"Hi,"

"What do you need?" Tank asked.

"I'm here to help the new guy with the searches."

"Oh, thank god." Ram said coming up behind me. "He has to be the slowest guy on the planet; I still don't understand why Ranger hasn't fired him."

"Come on Ram, he's new. Give him some time." I said defending him; I knew that starting here at first could be a bit daunting.

Tank got up and slung an arm around my shoulders, "I'll introduce you to him and get you a laptop. I assume Ranger wants you in his office?"

"Yup."

Ram took Tank's place at the monitors as Tank and I went over to my old cubical. Sitting in my seat was a small guy by Rangeman standards but big none the less, he had a sandy blonde hair and met the Rangeman quota on looks and muscle.

"Steph, this is James. James this is Ms. Plum." Tank introduced

I held out my hand, "Nice you meet you James."

James's eyes traveled up and down my body until Tank gave his a slap across the back of the head. He gave me a sheepish smile and shook my hand. "Nice to meet you to Ms. Plum"

"Just call me Steph"

Before James could respond Tank cut in, "Ms. Plum will do him just fine Bombshell"

I wasn't going to argue with the big guy so I just nodded my head. "So I'm here to relieve you of some files."

"Oh thank god. I don't know how you did it; the files just keep piling up."

Tank was sorting through the names in the list, writing down what I assumed were the top priority ones.

"The trick is not to leave the desk. As soon as you do they build straight back up again."

"Thanks, I'll remember that."

Five minutes later I was set up in Ranger's office starting the searches. Tank had left me alone telling me that if I needed anything just to holler.

It was five o'clock when Ranger came back into his office and sat down on one of the chairs facing his desk.

"How's it going Babe?"

"Good, I've finished most of them; if you want I'll come back tomorrow to do the rest." I handed him the pile of searches that I had done. Flipping through them he answered.

"Thanks Babe. I appreciate the help."

"No sweat." There was a knock and then Lester stuck his head in the door.

"Beautiful, Boss" Lester greeted sitting down on the on the unoccupied chair.

"Hey Lester, what's up?"

"Well, seeing as you bummed out on us last night to be with your boyfriend," I glanced over at Ranger, his eyes had gone hard and his fist where clenched tight. "We'd go to Shorty's tonight."

"Who's we?" I loved going out with the guys but sometimes if we weren't careful and had too big of a group we ended up in trouble. The guys constantly got into bar fights, normally defending my honor, and we'd been arrested a couple of times, luckily my godfather was the Chief of Police for TPD so most of the times we were let off with a warning.

"Me, Tank, Bobby, Cal, Hal, Woody, Zip, Zero, and maybe a few others" Lester looked over at Ranger then at me with a glint in his eye, "You can bring Liam if you want."

I knew what Lester was doing; when I first started dating Liam I thought I might have trouble with the guys, I knew they all thought of me as "Ranger's woman", and would be loyal towards him. But they didn't seem to mind, a few weeks later I found out that they didn't mind because they thought it would help get Ranger's head out of his ass, having a little competition. Lester had told me a few of the guys, including himself, had thought about asking me out before, to give Ranger some real competition but Tank had put an end to that when he threatened to fire anyone who would provoke Ranger like that.

"I'm going home now, so I'll ask Liam if wants to come and get back to you." I said cleaning up my stuff. "Bye boys."

I was just walking through the door when I heard Lester say to Ranger, "You should come to Boss, Liam's a great guy, you'll love him." I'm going to kill Lester.

I swung by the Bond's office to get my check before going home to change into something nicer. Shorty's was hardly a formal place, most of the time I wasn't sure whether it was ketchup or blood stains on the tables, the fact that my gut told me it was the latter stopped me from asking, but I did like to look good. Most of the guys saw me after I'd pulled myself, or they'd pulled me, out of another disaster, going out meant that I could show them that I didn't always have garbage in my hair and that I could look nice sometimes.

Picking up the phone I called Liam.

"Hey Baby, I was just about to call you." Hearing his voice made me think about John Bridges. No, I wasn't going to think about that tonight, I was giving Liam the benefit of the doubt. "What did you want for dinner tonight?"

"That's what I was calling about, the guys want to go out to Shorty's for dinner, and they invited you along as well." I had never taken Liam to Shorty's, it wasn't the type of place that he frequented very often if not ever, but I loved it, the pizza was good, the beer was cold and Shorty was really nice.

"Sure, what kind of dress code, formal, casual, dressy?"

"Um, Shorty's doesn't have a dress code. It's kind of like Pino's." Just replace cops with felons, nice tables and booths with a mismatch of broken chairs and tables and a family atmosphere with smoke from cigarettes.

"Sounds good. So how was your day? Catch any criminals?"

Ha, wouldn't you like to know. "Just one, but I was too late, he was already dead when I got there."

"Sorry baby, are you okay?" With all the concern and worry filling his voice I felt bad for thinking that he had something to do with it. Here I'd finally found the perfect guy and I was trying to find a fault with him.

"I'm fine. I'll be better when I see you though."

"Hmm, me too, I've been missing you all day, it doesn't help when I'm trying to run a business and all I can think about is the sexy woman I left alone and naked in bed this morning."

"Maybe we should skip Shorty's and stay in instead." I'm sure Lester would understand, maybe.

Liam laughed, "I would love to Baby, but I know how much the guys at Rangerman love you and I think if you blew them off to fall into bed with me, they'd castrate me. Sorry but I just don't love you that much."

Whao, back up there, he loved me. Shit, I wasn't good at this mushy stuff, just pretend he didn't say it Stephanie. Yeah denial, I was good at that.

"Okay then, I'll be at your place at 7 o'clock. Cya then."


	4. Get Shorty

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Chapter Four: Get Shorty

Ranger:

Parking the Turbo, I stopped to think. I knew it probably wasn't the best idea, coming to Shorty's, but I couldn't stand the thought of Liam with my woman. I knew that Lester was baiting me when he asked me to come, he was my cousin and with that came a certain privilege. My family would kill me if I killed him, so he was able, and happy, to tell me when he thought I was being an ass. Funnily enough, most of those times had to do with Stephanie, I just couldn't stand another man's hands on her, but I knew it was too dangerous for us to have a relationship; I would die if something was to happen to her and it be my fault. But lately I've been haunted of dreams with my Babe, holding my baby in our home; it's made me rethink something's.

I got out of the Turbo when I saw a few other Rangeman SUV's pull up; most of the main crew where here, all of them loved Steph and always jumped at the chance to hang out with her.

"Hey Boss,"

"Lester, is Steph coming?" I hoped that Liam hadn't been able to make it.

"Yes, Liam and Steph should be here soon."

_Damn _

We grabbed a booth in the back, and waited for the rest to turn up. Shorty had connected four tables together to accommodate all the Rangemen and he started bring out the pizza's and beer as soon as we sat down.

"Where's Bombshell?" Shorty asked

"She's coming," Lester answered, grabbing half a pizza for himself. "She's bringing her new man too."

I clenched my fits and saw Shorty shoot a worried look my way while Lester just smirked. I would love to be able to kill him but I knew my mother would have my head. Then again maybe it would be worth it.

"I've heard bout him, causing quiet a stir round here. Half the lug heads here are in love with Bombshell and aren't happy there's a new guy." Shorty was right, I doubted there was a straight man around that didn't instantly fall in love with Steph when they met her.

We waited ten more minutes before Steph and Liam turned up. Steph was laughing at something Liam was saying and all I wanted to do was rip his head off, or any other part of his body.

"Bombshell" The guys all hugged Steph and shook Liam's hand.

I stood up as she came over to me. "Babe" I wrapped her in my arms and kissed her on the top of her head. Steph pulled away too soon for my liking and turned back towards Liam.

"Nice to see you again Ranger" He held out his hand, I shook it and almost laughed when his grip tightened, trying to tell me he had a bigger dick.

"You too" I pulled out a chair next to me for my Babe and sat back down.

"I've been starving for Shorty's all day." Steph said digging into the pizza and beer. It wasn't long before everyone was joking, eating and laughing, especially Steph. I loved seeing her like this, she fit in so well with my men and me, never did she judge us.

"Whadda ya say after this we go out to a few clubs?" Lester suggested.

All the guys agreed, I had a meeting early in the morning and couldn't miss it.

"Sorry Les, but I have an early shift tomorrow," Steph declined as she smiled at me, laughter in her eyes. "And my boss is a hard ass who wouldn't appreciate me turning up half dead."

"Damn straight." I said with a smile, mainly because I didn't trust Lester enough to look after her while they were both drunk.

"Oh come on," Ram pipped up, "if you let Bombshell sleep in I'm sure she'll be extra good tomorrow." I didn't miss the double meaning of his words but luckily Steph did. Although if the hard look Liam got was anything to go by, he didn't miss it either.

Halfway through dinner I got up to hit the head, a few minutes later the bathroom door open again and Liam came through.

"I don't like Steph working for you but that's something I can't stop without upsetting her."

I ignored him.

"Therefore I expect her just to be doing secretary work, running searches, answering phones and the like."

"I'll run my business how I see fit. That includes what my employees do or don't do." I opened the door when he slammed his hand against it, making it close. Slowly turned to look at him.

"Steph is mine. Get it." Liam ground out. I could see his anger simmering, he was about to break. I knew the danger of sending him back out to Steph, so I decided to have a little fun and do something I been aching to do for a while.

"And yet, she wears my clothes, drives my car, works in my building and does anything I tell her to do without a moment's hesitation." I said arrogantly.

With a swinging fist he took the bait, I ducked the fist and it hit the door behind us. I threw a few punches into his kedneys then sweaped his feet out from below him. Within seconds he was back up on his feet, he fist contecting with my cheek. We scuffeled for about ten minutes, slaming each other into the stalls and walls until, Shorty and Tank came in a broke us up.

"What the hell do you think you're doin'?" Shorty scolded. "You want to fight, take it outside, otherwise go back to your table."

Silently Liam and I walked back to the table, Tank between us. Steph let out a gasp when she saw us. "What happened?"

"We're fine baby." Liam said. "There were a few guys in the bathroom that were saying some out of line stuff about you. Ranger and I were just defending your honour."

I was surprised at how easily Liam lied to Steph, it made me wonder if he lied to her regularly. I took my seat beside Steph again, Liam on her other side and opened a new beer.

"You both look like you've been put through a blender, next time screw my honour and look after yourselves."

The rest of the night went well, meaning there was no more bloodshed, and at ten thirty we all packed up and left Shorty's, half of us going home and the other out to a few clubs.

"Well, that went well." Tank said when we got back to Rangeman, a huge smirk gracing his face.

"Shut up." I wasn't in the mood for his games.

"Come on boss. You sure you don't want to go find Liam for round two."

"Fuck off Tank." I said, leaving him laughing on the fourth floor and going up to the pent house.

Steph

The drive back to my apartment was in silence, I was too tried to say anything and Liam looked in pain every time he opened his mouth.

"I'm really sorry about Shorty's, normally nobody dares fighting when Rangeman is there, especially not actually fighting Ranger."

"Its fine, I'm fine." I turned towards me and picked up my, placing a kiss on it then resting it on his thigh.

We got back to my apartment and collapsed into bed, too tired to do anything else.

"I've been meaning to ask you." Liam said.

"What?" I rolled over and rested my chin on his chest.

"Let's move in together."

"What?!"

"Not in here or into my place, but let's find a place which is ours. You don't have answer now, just think about it."

"Okay, I'll think about it." And with that I promptly fell asleep, dreaming of Liam and Ranger.


	5. The Professional

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Chapter Five: The Professional

Steph:

I woke up to someone kissing down my neck, "mmm, its too early."

Liam chuckled, "I have to go into work now, before I'm late."

Liam was dressed in a suit and looked dead sexy, "you sure you don't want to be late."

"As much as I want that, we've been having some problems lately and I can't take any time off yet." He sat on the bed beside my head and leaned down to kiss me.

"Yet, that sounds promising"

"When everything's dealt with, I'll take us on a nice holiday somewhere, for a very long time."

"Somewhere close to the beach?" I asked

"I'll buy you a beach if that's what you want." Liam kissed me once more then left.

I fell back asleep and woke to my answering machine. "Yo, white girl, get your lazy ass up and bring us some doughnuts, we got skips to catch."

Huffing, pulled myself out of bed and under the warm spray of my shower. I swung by the Tasty Pastry on my way to the bonds office.

"Morning all"

"What hour do you call this white girl?" Lula stood hands on hips in front of me, a burg glare plastered onto her face. "I had to hear from my Tankie that Ranger and Liam got into a fight over you at Shorty's."

I dropped the doughnuts onto the table and sat down on the couch. "They got into a fight yes but not with each other. Apparently some guys where saying rude things about me and they got into a fight with them."

"Ah huh, I'm sure." Connie said.

"Who told you that?" Lula asked.

"They did."

"Hummph."

I could tell Lula and Connie didn't believe me but Ranger and Liam wouldn't have been stupid enough to get into a fight over me. Would they?

"Got any files for me Connie?"

"No sorry, the dead guy was our last one sorry."

"Ah well, just have to pick up a few hours at Rangeman."

"What does Liam think about you working for Ranger?" Connie asked.

"He doesn't mind. It's not like I'm fucking Ranger, we're just friends." Both Lula and Connie raise one eyebrow each silently saying 'yeah we believe you'. "Any way Liam asked me to move in with him." Connie and Lula looked stunned. "He wants us to move into a new apartment so its our own."

"Does Ranger know about this?" Lula asked.

"What difference does it make?"

"Oh it'll make a difference, it Ranger finds out them he's going to do more then throw a few punches Liam's way." Connie answered.

Ranger

I sat in one of our conference rooms, the A team, FEDs and Joe Morelli sat with me.

"This is ridiculous." For once I agreed with Morelli. "How can we have no clue who this guy is."

"Lets go over what we have once again." Tank suggested.

"A year ago, a cargo container full of guns arrived." A FED started. "We've managed to collect most of those guns, but still have no idea who sent them over here."

"We do know they came from Ireland and they were the first lode to come over" An other FED added in.

"Yes, so far there has been two other, much larger shipments in. That we know of, and we believe the next one will be within the next couple of months."

"The thing is we can't find any Familys or Gangs in Ireland that would want to do this." Morelli finished.

"So it's either a new Family or one that's been flying under the radar."

"Whoever this guy is, he's a professional."

I felt a buzz in my pocket and flipped open my phone. Steph just turned up. I stood, "we're getting nothing done sitting here. Keep looking."

All the men got up and left. I went out to the com room to see Steph talking to Ram, who was on monitors.

"Babe" I gave her one of my rare smiles.

"Hey Ranger. Just thought I'd stop by and see how James is doing with the searches."

"Horrible." Ram piped up.

It was true, the guy was a genius, that's why I'd hired him. But he couldn't do searches to save his life.

"If you can babe, I'd be grateful if you could come back and help out on a part time basis."

"Sure, however I can help."


	6. Babe

Lock, Stock and Two Smokin' Barrels.

_**Chapter six: BABE**_

_Steph:_

I made my way over to my old desk and found James, knee deep in papers and looking a little lost.

"How's it going?" I asked

"Horrible, I don't understand how you did it; I haven't left my desk all day and still they just keep coming.

I chuckled knowing what he ment. "Go have a break, I'll take over for a few hours."

James looked like a little kid on Christmas,faster then I could blink he stood up and swept me into his arms, twirling me around. "You're the best Stepha- Miss Plum." James put me down and disappeared.

Letting out a sigh I started to get things sorted.

A few hours later, I had fix up the mess James had and managed to finish all the searches in the inbox. I gathered up the two marked urgent and headed over to Ranger's office to drop them off. Knocking on the door, I got a gruff 'enter'

"Here's the searches you wanted." Handing him the two files.

"Thank you Babe."

"No problem"

Ranger stretched back in his chair, I had to check for drool. His muscle stretched under his white button up shirt he was still sporting from his previous meeting. The first few buttons undone showing a hit of the tantalizing chest that lay underneath. I knew how good his body felt, under my hands, body and tongue. Stop it Stephanie, smart Stephanie said, you're with Liam now, but stupid Stephanie was saying Liam Who?

When my eyes went back to Ranger's he was wearing a small grin. "See something you like Babe?"

I tried to feign indifference. "No, I've seen it before, not that great."

Within mili-seconds Ranger was out of his chair and in front of me. "Not that great."

His eyes were pitch black, took a step back and he followed me until I hit the wall. "As I remember Babe, I had you begging for me, and my body, I had you on your knees." I got flashes of that night as he spoke; he was right, I had wanted him in every way possible that night and he made sure I got _everything _I wanted.

His body pressed against mine, his mouth at my ear. "Would you like me to help you remember," His tongue licked along my neck, making me moan.

"No, I can't, I'm with Liam." I said trying to push him off me, but the problem with Ranger is if he doesn't want to do it, it doesn't happen. And he definitely didn't want to move.

"No Babe, you'll always be mine, every time he kisses you, you think of my lips, every time he touches you, you'll think of my hands and every time he fucks you, you'll think of making love to me. And when you're coming there will be no doubt in your mind who you belong to."

My breathing was ragged and I was soaking wet, so when his mouth met mine, I did nothing to stop instead opening my myself up to him and wrapping my legs around his waist so I could grind myself onto his crotch.

Ranger lost control then; he swept everything off his desk and laid me down, ripping at my shirt and latching on to one of my nipples. Moaning I arched up into him and tugged at his pants. His hands came down to help mine, and we managed to get his pants lose, slipping down off the desk, I knelt in front of Ranger and drew his cock into my mouth.

"Fuck Babe." His hands wound themselves in my hair.

Sucking as much as I could of him into my mouth I used one hand to stroke the rest and the other to play with his balls. I loved Ranger's cock, he tasted exquisite. His hands tugged on my hair and I continued to suck him harder and faster, massaging his balls.

"Please Babe, god Stephanie." I knew he wouldn't last much longer, I relaxed my throat as he started fucking my mouth faster and faster. "Stephanie" he roared as he came, I swallowed every last drop, then he collapsed on his knees in front of me.

His hands still in my hair, he pulled my in for a kiss. Resting his forhead on mine when he pulled away. "Babe, that was.." for the first time Ranger was lost for words.

While he might be satisfied I was still wet and wanting. I pulled off his t-shirt and getting the hint Ranger laid me down on the floor covering my body with his.

"Is there something my Babe wants" Playful Ranger said pushing he already hard cock against me.

Before I could scream at him to fuck me my cell buzzed from across the room, playing the Irish national anthem I had put for Liam. Shit.


	7. Be Cool

Lock Stock and Two Smokin' Barrels  
Chapter Seven: Be Cool 

Steph:  
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Grabbing my phone I sat back down on the floor "Hey Liam" I watched Rangers face turn deathly as I said Liam's name.

"Hey baby, doing anything at the moment?" He asked, as Ranger laid his head down in my lap, in wait.

"Ummmm, Nothing much" I answered. I was so going to hell. Here I had a loving boyfriend and I was this close from sleeping with my sometimes boss and mentor. I was a slut.

"Good, I miss you and was wondering if you wanted to go to a late lunch?"

"Uh, yea, I guess, when are where?"

"Half an hour, Pino's?"

"Alright, see you then."

"I love you"

"Me too"  
I hung up and breathed out a sigh.

"Going to lunch with Him?" Ranger asked, with a cat that ate the canary smirk. Ok, so I guess I was the one doing the eating, but you know what I mean.

"OH, God, I'm sorry Ranger. I'm with Liam now and this can't happen again, this never should have happened." I quickly got up and was about to open the door when Ranger spoke up.

"So that's it?" He asked, as I turned, I could see he was dressed now and very angry.

"What?"

"Two seconds ago, you were wet, willing and ready for me and now you're going off with the Accountant to have lunch?"

He was right, I was so screwed up, but I didn't know what to say or how to fix it. Well, they always say the best defense is a good offense. "Why Ranger? Have you got something better to offer?" I asked, exasperated.

He stayed silent. That's what I figured.

I spun on my heel and left. I had a lunch date.

Before going to Pino's, I went home to have a quick shower and changed clothes.  
I was fifteen minutes late but I figured it was okay since it would only be polite to take a shower before seeing your boyfriend after you had just cheated on him.

"Steph, you look beautiful as always." Liam said, kissing me before I slid into the booth opposite him.

"Thank you. How was work?" I asked, going for chipper and hoping he didn't notice anything. Liam had already order my standard Pino's food so I dug in.

"Not really very interesting, had a few meetings. What about you? Catch any bad guys?"

"Nope, just did some searches over at Rangeman." And nearly screwed my boss.

"So, have you thought any more about moving in together?"

I had thought about it and I'd thought about it like an adult surprisingly. I was pretty sure I loved Liam or could love Liam, but since Ranger had come back my emotions have be a little off, but then again Ranger wasn't willing to offer me anything.

"Yes I have, I'm willing to try, and maybe we could just get a lease for 6 months and then see how it goes."

Liam looked like a kid on Christmas. "That's fine; I was hoping you would say yes because I found some houses and apartments that we could look at this afternoon if you want."

Suddenly I was excited, I wanted to move in with Liam, and grow up. I huge smile formed on my face. "Sure, after lunch we'll go check some of them out."

Ranger POV:  
I stood looking at the door for a few minutes after Steph left. She was right I had never offered her anything besides sex. Well, that was about to change. I went into the Com. Room and over to James, "I want a search on Liam Fitzpatrick done, now."

"Umm," he stuttered, "okay sir." Damn rookies, always nervous as a virgin on prom night.

"We already did one Rangeman," Tank said, coming up behind me. "Do you think we'd let our little sister go out with someone that we hadn't checked out thoroughly?. He came back clean."  
"Well I want another one done. I want Steph to be mine by the end of this week; therefore I need to know how to kill the opposition." Tank raised an eyebrow. "Metaphorically speaking, of course."  
I just raised an eyebrow before heading back into my office. As I started to pick up the stuff I'd swept off my desk all I could think about was Steph. God that woman was amazing, never in my life had a woman made me feel that good just using her mouth, a woman had never made me feel that good period.

I'd been sitting at my desk for 30 minutes doing paper work when Tank poked his head in the door.  
"If you plan on going after Bombshell, I'd do it fast, Ram heard from Big Dog who's at Pino's at the moment that she just said yes to moving in with Liam."  
I managed to hold it together until Tank closed my door, before throwing my laptop across the room into the far wall.  
Fuck. How did this get so screwed up? She was mine. Everybody knew it. I knew it, she knew it and now I had to make sure that fucking accountant knew it  
I was going to kill Liam, that would be easier, and then I could get my Babe back.  
Why was she doing this to me, if it was to get my attention, well she's got it.  
I'd do anything just to get her to stop this madness.  
I left my office, walking through the control room I spotted Ram. "Get me a new laptop. And where the hell is James? I asked for that search ages ago."  
"Here sir. I just finished." He said, running over to me. I snatched it from his hands, quickly looking over it, I made a decision. Before anyone could blink I was out the door, I had an accountant to kill 


End file.
